Mexico wins appeal in US court against arms manufacturers

(CNN) — Mexico on Monday won an appeal in a US court in the first lawsuit filed by a foreign government against the US arms industry.

In 2021, Mexico will overtake the U.S. Gun manufacturers and distributors were sued for facilitating the trafficking of military-style weapons to Mexican drug cartels, according to a press release from Mexico’s Foreign Ministry. The Mexican government said the legal action is based on the fact that “their reckless and illegal business practices facilitate the illegal trafficking of arms into Mexico, causing enormous human and material losses.”

Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. A lawsuit was filed against; Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.; Beretta USA Corporation; Glock, Inc.; Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.; Whitmer Public Safety Group, Inc., D/B/A Interstate Arms; Century International Arms, Inc.; Baretta Holdings Spa; Glock ges.MBH; According to court documents obtained by CNN, Colts Manufacturing Company, Llc.

On Monday, the US A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals ruled that gun companies are not immune from liability after Mexico argued that gun makers’ business practices facilitate gun trafficking.

Mexico argued in the appeal that “almost all” of the weapons recovered from the crime scene (between 70% and 90%) were smuggled from the United States, according to court documents. “For decades, the government and its citizens have been victims of the lethal volume of lethal and military-style weapons circulating in criminal hands across the border from the United States into Mexico,” court documents state. “Together, the defendants produce more than 68% of the U.S. weapons trafficked to Mexico, equivalent to between 342,000 and 597,000 weapons per year.”

“There is one thing that is essential and that is that the Ministry of Defense has warned the United States about weapons entering Mexico that are for the exclusive use of the United States military. There is an urgent need for an investigation in this regard,” the Mexican secretary said. of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Barcena. .

The lawsuit, initially filed in 2021, was dismissed in a lower court in 2022 because the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) provided US gun manufacturers with immunity and broad protections against misuse of their products.

Then-Mexico Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters when the original case was filed that the country would seek at least $10 billion in compensation.

From CNN’s Sahar Akbarzai and Michael Rios